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Peter Zaback

@pzaback.bsky.social

590 followers 640 following 180 posts

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Peter Zaback

@pzaback.bsky.social

Must read, and I especially wish conservatives I once considered friends would do so

Am I saying we're not polarized? Far from it. I'm saying we're miscategorizing what polarization even is.
We are still very likely to treat gay or bi or trans or nonbinary, Black or brown, Muslim or Jewish or Sikh or Hindu, or undocumented, or disabled, ill, neuroatypical, impoverished, or unhoused people, and many others, too, as if their lives and dignity don't exist, or at least matter enough to fight about.
But more and more of us are unwilling to do that to them.
We are insisting that they are actually our friends and neighbors and brothers and sisters, and that their lives have the same value as ours, and they deserve protection from those of us who would mistreat them as if they were not us, too.
Some of us insist on behaving as if all of them are actually us.
Which means we are increasingly unwilling to keep comfortable and normalized relationships with those of us who insist on treating our brothers and sisters as if their lives don't matter.
And yes, we're willing to fight about that with some others among us—not because we see ourselves as separate from them, but because we know that even though we're fighting them, they are actually us, too ... and we demand better from ourselves.

It's not the beginning of "us versus them." It's the end of it. Or, I hope, at least the beginning of the end of it.
When people say "this polarization is tearing us apart" by us they don't ever seem to mean "the people our society ignores and harms, either for identity or fortune; the people we ignore for our own lazy comfort." That is a polarization they insist on; the cause they fight for. By us they seem to mean "the critical mass of people willing to license our injustice."
And yes, many people, who resent the inconvenience of that fight, or who have no stomach for it, experience this strife as polarization. They experience it as being treated as a them for the first time ... even though nobody is trying to disenfranchise them; they're just no longer willing to date them.
But for many people, I suspect the increase in this kind of strife isn't experienced as polarization at all, but solidarity.
So, where do you set your poles?
Are you opposed only to fights? Or are you actually interested in what people are fighting for?
Do you see each fight as an increase in polarization? If so, be honest with yourself about the assumptions you're aligning with, about who in your worldview is allowed to be we and us and ourselves, and who isn't.

March 29, 2025 at 8:42 PM

Peter Zaback

@pzaback.bsky.social

Strike that, it got the answer correct when I included Fahrenheit, but omitting it led it to assume Fahrenheit and then proceed to answer incorrectly 🤭

Screenshot of a Google query:
"will water freeze at 27 degrees"

The resulting AI Overview is:
No, water will not freeze at 27 degrees
(presumably Fahrenheit) because the freezing point of water is 32 degrees Fahrenheit; meaning water will only begin to freeze once the temperature drops below 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

January 17, 2025 at 7:33 PM

Peter Zaback

@pzaback.bsky.social

Lmao

Screenshot of text from the article: "And yet for all his complaints about "wokeness" and his apparent desire to reform the military he claims to care about so much, Schmitt spoke in front of a sign reading, "DEI in our Miltary."

January 17, 2025 at 3:02 AM

Peter Zaback

@pzaback.bsky.social

Screenshot of Bluesky post reading "Se7en is a Christmas movie because people talk about the Bible and Brad Pitt gets a present at the end." Posted by The Volatile Mermaid @ohnoshetwitnt.bsky.social
December 8, 2024 at 6:05 AM

December 12, 2024 at 4:04 AM

Peter Zaback

@pzaback.bsky.social

Context

Screenshot of USA Today headline and lede:
Words inscribed on bullet casings found at scene of UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting: Reports
The shell casings featured the words "deny," "defend" and "depose" written on them, multiple outlets reported, citing police sources familiar with the investigation.
Eric Lagatta
USA TODAY

December 5, 2024 at 5:58 PM

Peter Zaback

@pzaback.bsky.social

Impersonation bot reposts conversation discussing such impersonation bots reposting...
While I'm here and unsure how long it'll take for action after reporting the imposter, is there a good way to crowd-source labeling accounts as such? In this case, two mutuals follow this imposter of @bft.wtf

Screenshot of a post by a bot impersonating user bft.wtf in which the post in question is a repost of a discussion about bots reposting accounts affiliated with the account being impersonated

November 23, 2024 at 2:13 AM

Peter Zaback

@pzaback.bsky.social

July 8, 2024 at 12:10 PM

Peter Zaback

@pzaback.bsky.social

Ack! I was especially intrigued by this graf at the beginning but it kinda felt like you didn't come back to explaining how the subsequent model you described might need to be modified.